Things I like but you don't

There is something about this card that a lot of collectors don't like.

When I first heard about what they didn't like about it, I was baffled. I never gave something like that a thought. I was a bit offended, too, because I always liked what they didn't like.

And so we're at a variation of that fun quarantine game of "Things You Like But I Don't" with "Things I Like But You Don't".

I thought of doing the "things you like but I don't" list but, quite frankly, it's too easy. And I've covered much of it in past blog posts. I'm quite the contrarian and I don't mind pointing out that I don't care for what the masses like, and so I've done so many, many times.

Trying to find 10 things I like that you don't is a bit more challenging.

That's mostly because in the collecting world you can always find someone who likes something, no matter how wildly unpopular. So, even though I came up with 10 hobby things that most people don't like, I know it's just most people and I'm sure some will comment that they've "always liked" something that I just said people don't like.

But let's get to it: 10 Things I Like But You Don't

1. REPACKS

I know there are bloggers who flock to repacks. But there is a decided majority who don't understand why anyone would waste their money on them. They don't see anything of value in them, they don't line up with what they collect. I get a distinct "yeah, I've had a weak moment, too" vibe from people any time I announce I've bought a repack.

But repacks yield stuff like the above 1982 Donruss Ron LeFlore card that I pulled in one of my more recent repack purchases. The masses don't care about Ron LeFlore (pretty obvious from the clicks on my last post) and they don't care about '82 Donruss.

And to that I say: more repacks for me.

2. BLACK-AND-WHITE CARDS

I admit I've questioned black-and-white treatment on cards in the past. But that's mostly in scenarios when black-and-white is mixed with color, for example, 1963 Topps or the 1979 Topps rookie prospects cards.

Strict black-and-white cards -- SETS -- are marvelous.

Perhaps I think this way because when I was a kid a lot of publications were black-and-white. The newspaper was still black-and-white. Most magazines would have a color cover and maybe a color centerpiece presentation but the rest was B&W. Even Sports Illustrated wasn't all color throughout.

I dig black-and-white sets like 1960 Leaf and of course the Galasso Greats that I've raved about post after post. I think they're classy and distinctive. But most of the time when I dedicate posts to those B&W sets, it doesn't draw much of a response.

That doesn't bode well for my next post, which will be very black-and-white.

3. 2006 TOPPS

The 2006 Topps baseball set falls squarely into the "this set isn't great but I like it better than 2006 Topps" category for many people.

I get it. If you don't have an attachment to this set, what is it? The odd obsession with arches. The tired obsession with foil.

But I can't think that way because it is the set that brought me back into modern collecting. I bought more rack packs of this set than any other set in my life, accumulated a ton of the cards and actually did complete it, just by going to the store, for the first time in my life.

Every time I view it now, I get those old feelings of excitement as I re-entered the hobby, and it's very difficult to get feelings like that from a set if it doesn't come from my childhood.

That's why I'll always like 2006 Topps. It's pretty colorful, too. Oh ... and CARTOONS ON THE BACK!

4. DOUBLE-BAGGING PAGES

It doesn't happen that much now, probably because everybody knows I do it and there's no dissuading me, but any time it was evident that I double-bagged my pages, someone had to point it out as "different."

My answer was always the same: must be nice to have that kind of money.

I believe you've seen my card room. There is no shortage of binders in there. Eighty to 90 percent of them are double-bagged. I don't know where I'd live if you re-paged every one of those binders so none of the pages were doubled up.

5. HAVING EVERY TEAM REPRESENTED IN THE ALL-STAR GAME

I'm going to stray into a couple of non-card items here.

Every year when the All-Star Game approaches and it's time to vote, I hear people rail about the injustice of certain players being left off the team and every time they blame the practice of making sure every team is represented in the game.

I'm sure my opinion is based on when I grew up -- there was no cable, nobody got to see the Brewers play on a regular basis unless they lived in Milwaukee -- it was that team's once chance to shine on the national stage. It was cool to see who was going to represent each team when the lineups were announced before the game.

I don't want to lose that. But I'm sure we will. Someday. In the name of making things FAIR. Again. A whole lot of you sure where scarred by grade school gym classes.

6. BASEBALL PLAYERS WEARING THEIR PANTS DOWN TO THEIR SHOE TOPS

I don't understand the borderline religious devotion to stirrups.

I get that stirrups are unique to baseball and there was a learning process and a method and they had a certain style and showed the team colors and all that. But I always thought it was weird when I was a kid and even though I grew up during a time when it was a very baseball-y thing to do, I couldn't get over the one overriding thought: is this necessary?

Now we get cranky oldsters bashing players for daring to wear their pants down to their shoes. What? Like regular people walking down the street? Who cares? I have no problem with this. It looks fine. People think it looks sloppy. I don't know what they're talking about. I know sloppy, your sweatshirt with food crumbs is sloppy. Fix it and leave the baseball players alone.

7. 1988 TOPPS

I happen to think 1988 Topps is the best-looking set not named 1983 Topps in the entire decade of the '80s.

It's classy, simple, direct, easy to process, and has that cool image-overlapping-the-design thing that we're finally getting back to on baseball cards after too many decades away.

But over and over I hear that it's "boring." Which is a strange thing to hear from a baseball fan who likely has had to defend his sport from people who say IT is boring.

Consider 1988 Topps the BASEBALL of sets. That's why I like it.

8. FACSIMILE AUTOGRAPHS

 This is what I was referring to with the card at the top of the post.

The people who don't like these REALLY don't like them.

That's because they're autograph collectors. And the facsimile auto, at the very least, clashes with the actual signed photo. In some cases, it prevents the card from being a candidate for a signing. Or, eww, the player signs right over the fake auto.

None of that matters to me because I don't seek autographs. I am all about the card. As is. The composition of the card, how it looks as a collective work of art -- unscribbled on.

The first card set I ever collected -- 1975 Topps -- features facsimile autos. Several others from that time, too. So, for me, it's "what makes something a baseball card." If I had to make up a baseball card template, it probably would have a facsimile auto.

Besides, you think Cliff Lee is going to autograph your card "Clifton Phifer Lee" like the facsimile shows? That was always a cool part of those fake sigs.

9. CHECKLISTS

You may wonder who the heck wants checklists to come back into sets. But I know Topps receives complaints that physical checklists aren't part of the card set.

That's why Topps started to create those random cards you see in its flagship set now, of players celebrating or what-not, with a checklist on the back.

I want the checklist on the front.

I want the checklist on the front. I want the colors to be as bright and awful as possible. I want tiny little boxes to check. And I want a card number on the back so it's part of the set.

Yup, I know that even back in the day it was the worst thing to pull a checklist out of a pack. And I know it doesn't make any sense in today's online world to have checklists. I don't care.

There is something about a numbered checklist as part of the set that just seems so handy. You don't have to go searching for the checklist. It's right there on the card. ... Well ... OK ... so you have to collect six of 'em to get a look at the entire set.

10. TEAM PHOTOS ON CARDS

This may go along with checklists, but I don't even care whether there is a checklist on the back, I just want to see the team photos back.

The team cards that appear in Topps sets now -- usually wild celebrations with liquid flying everywhere -- do not say "Team" to me like a team photo does.

Seeing every player dressed in their players' colors, that's memorable. It's so pleasing to look back on these years later, trying to pick out players.

Topps had team photos in sets as early as a decade ago. But stupid legal crap got in the way and all of sudden nobody had a license to show bat boys or managers or umpires. A license??? You need a license to show a bat boy???? This out of everything that I just showed is evidence that the world has gone crazy.

All right, so that's my 10 things.

I probably missed a couple of items, but I struggled to get it to 10, which wouldn't have been the case if I did "Things you like but I don't." I'd have to rein it in at around 30.

Also, I did the "Things I Like But You Don't" on that popular social media site recently, just to break up all the memes and political crap.

No. 1 on my list?

Anchovies (*delicious*)